Aurora town exec linked to shabu lab

DINGALAN, Aurora — The acting vice mayor of this town has been linked to the four Chinese nationals who were arrested in last Wednesday’s raid on a shabu laboratory here.

Acting Vice Mayor Edgar Liu has reportedly sent surrender feelers to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) after he was alleged to have been involved in the operations of the shabu laboratory in Barangay Butas na Bato where more than P5 million worth of shabu was seized.

Arrested by a 40-man NBI team led by Roel Olivar were Zhi Qu, 25, of Zhzun Tsu, China; Ong Tua Ti, 24, of Han Tzi; Zhin Na, 30, of Fujian province; and Xian Tian, 28, of Zun Tah.

Also collared was Francisco Ramos, who was with the Chinese nationals when the shabu laboratory located inside the Jonathan Resort in Butas na Bato, some three kilometers from the town proper, was raided.

Two repackers, who were allegedly under Liu’s employ, identified as Jimmy Padua and Hernani de Guzman, eluded arrest and are now the subject of a manhunt.

According to an NBI source, Liu went to the NBI-Cabanatuan City office to give himself up to its chief, Pedro Roque Jr., but was instead advised to surrender to NBI director Nestor Mantaring.

The raid yielded five kilos of finished shabu worth about P5 million, as well as crystallized and liquid forms of the illegal drug.

The raid jolted Aurora officials who could not believe that a remote coastal town like Dingalan could be a haven for the illegal drug trade.

Aurora Gov. Bellaflor Angara-Castillo said she was shocked to learn that nobody among the local officials knew about the existence of the shabu lab in Barangay Butas na Bato.

She said she has asked the Philippine National Police (PNP) to look into the possible involvement of other local officials in the illegal drug trade.

"I want the PNP to spare no one in the investigation," she said.

Angara-Castillo said she has taken acting Dingalan Mayor Edgardo Galvez to task for his failure to detect the operations of the shabu lab as well as the barangay officials for a breakdown in intelligence gathering.

She said she was told that the shabu lab had operated for only about a month, contrary to the claim of Henry de Vera, executive officer of the NBI-Reaction Arrest and Interdiction Division, that it had been there for six months and delivered shabu to Metro Manila.

"I feel so bad that it’s always Dingalan which is giving us a black eye. If not illegal logging, then it’s illegal drugs," she said.

Angara-Castillo said she has asked the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency to establish an office in the province.

Sought for comment, Galvez said the barangay officials, not the municipal executives, should be the ones responsible for monitoring the people entering their communities.

Galvez took over as acting mayor after Mayor Jaime Ylarde was detained for his alleged involvement in last year’s murder of local publisher Philip Agustin.